


Silent Suffering

by xxLilacLavenderxx



Category: MCSM, Minecraft (Video Game), Minecraft Story Mode
Genre: Abuse, And thus he will suffer, Anger, Angst, Angst and Feels, Emotional Hurt, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fights, Friendship, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, I love him, Implied Relationships, Mental Breakdown, Mental Instability, Non-Graphic Violence, Poor Life Choices, Psychological Torture, Regret, Sad Ending, Strained Friendships, Swearing, Two Shot, Unhappy Ending, Verbal Abuse, hurt friendships, why do i enjoy torturing my favorite characters?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-06 03:42:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20284819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxLilacLavenderxx/pseuds/xxLilacLavenderxx
Summary: A twisted turn of events had Aiden contemplating about certain things in a dark, hollow chamber known as prison. Not that his current situation surprised him a bit. Life had a tendency to torture him in more ways than one after all. Two-shot





	Silent Suffering

The torch light flickered up ahead and the dripping of water could be heard from the corner of the dimly lit chamber, splashing into a puddle on the floor. A young man woke up from a somewhat peaceful slumber and gently rose from his bed. He lazily rubbed his blood shot tired eyes to have better look of his surroundings. In the gloom, Aiden could make out the cobblestone walls and metal iron bars that locked him in.

The familiar sight once again reminded him where he exactly was. He was in Jail, which it was in a completely different world with equally different people who wanted nothing but to throw bricks at him whenever they crossed paths with him. He could almost believe the hate was well deserved, although that didn't stop him from becoming frustrated with their constant name callings and their rather violent tendencies of punishing wrong doers. Every people in this town seemed tongue lash him without giving him a chance to explain himself. But no one could blame them, could they?

Aiden glanced at the wall on his left side of the bed. There were numerous names written or carved on the cobblestone wall. Judging from the looks of the dated structure, this place used to be a prison he guessed. The moss covered walls, the rusty iron bars and the carved names of the people that for sure didn't belong to sky city’s townspeople.

Sometimes he debated whether or not to carve his own name in there. He had never intended to become a criminal. All he wanted to do was to discover new worlds and get recognized for it, like how the order of the stone did. But as bad luck would have it, he ended up becoming one. Not because he wanted to somehow surpass his longtime rival. Not because he wanted to take revenge on the said rival because she took away all the fame and glory that once belonged to him. But because he went as far as nearly taking lives more than once.

Ever since he was a little boy, he had been fantasizing about traveling to the dimensions beyond his own home world. About going on adventures through undiscovered portals, hunting valuable goods and treasures and whatever the heart of every adventurous little kid desired. 

The childhood house was rooted in a secluded area within the oak forest near stonebrooke (now named beacontown), in complete isolation from every single human being in the town. Simply put, the place was as exciting as watching grass grow. The only few times something happened to turn his mundane lifestyle upside down, were the times their household received a couple of visits from the cops regarding the troubles his crook of a family had encountered.

Aiden craved fun, lived for adventuring and everything else that blew away the cobwebs. He longed to dive into the great unknown with his friends to see what those other unique worlds had to offer. Being tied down to an isolated house with totally indifferent people not giving two shits about him and his well-being wasn’t a life he wanted to live at all.

Aiden had naturally been super excited to get out of that house as soon as he reached adult hood, even if it meant to leave his parents behind in the process. It wasn’t like they would miss him anyway, and even as he stood here years later, he wouldn’t be surprised if they haven’t noticed his absence yet.

Needless to say, Aiden’s younger self had created the perfect persona of his future self in his mind. Courageous, hugely admired and basically a legend in his own lifetime. But what he never imagined, even in his wildest dreams, was being locked up in a high security prison in some undisclosed crazy dimension with floating islands. 

Thanks to the certain events that took place not so long ago; he earned the ever great reputation of a notorious outlaw. Damn it.   
A loud disturbing banging on the iron door severed his train of thoughts and his breath was caught in the web in his throat. The sound was so terrible, it was like the ground was bombarded by a crap ton of TNTs by griefers. It didn’t take long for him to realize the oh-so-lovely noise was actually coming from the iron door in his jail cell and not by some explosion loving maniacs  
.   
A loud annoyed groan escaped his lips as he tiredly messaged his temples. His everyday unwelcomed visitor was at it again. 

“Hey, what the hell was that for?” Aiden barked.

“Get your lazy ass up and get over here right now! We’ve got work to do.” Came aloud a displeased, enraged voice from the other side of the iron clad door. “The Founder won’t tolerate setbacks of any kind, especially by you.”

Aiden breathed a sigh of exasperation and swung his feet from the bed. Snatching his Magnus themed green T-shirt and his pants from the ground, he wasted no time and put them on at full tilt.

Two months in his prison life and the brunet hadn’t been able to come to terms with his new life in this new world yet. Everything was happening too ridiculously fast for his liking that he wondered if he ever could manage to adjust himself to it. 

Just three months ago, he had been living with his three close friends under the same roof in complete peace and leisure in his own home world after it was nearly torn apart into pieces by a three headed monster directly spawned from the deepest depths of the nether.   
The dreaded wither storm raged on and consumed every single dirt and stone blocks in its path, leaving nothing but misery and devastation for the people and brought the bitter feeling of sorrow upon them. So many lives were lost and those who were lucky enough to survive the deadly clutches of that sheer monstrosity, were saved and brought to safety in hidden camps located under the ground for the potential survivors. 

Fortunately for them all, the demonic creature’s screeching howl was silenced before the destruction went any further. Jesse armed with her powerful enchanted axe and dressed in her indestructible armor, traveled deep within the body of the witherstorm and with only a few blows delivered to the command block, the heart and every being of the monster, shattered the mechanical object into million pieces and destroyed the horrid creature once and for all. 

Jesse and her gang emerged triumphant. They managed to stop the unstoppable and they were hailed as heroes, completely replacing the old order as the new legendary warriors. It was as if a group called “the old order of the stone” had never existed before in the history of minecraftia. Within a week, their fame practically died down and the story of the ender dragon’s defeat was slipped away in the pages of forgotten history books. Throughout the upcoming years, their memories will be vanished from the minds of people who used to admire them and when the once well-known heroes become nothing but unimportant footnotes to history someday, nobody will be surprised.

Aiden had never been happier in his life then. He was given a chance to live freely and happily in this new witherstorm-free world without the fear of another block eating monster. His life was turned back to normal. He had his home and friends back, all safe and sound. Life couldn’t be any better.

Unfortunately, things took a turn for worst when he let his jealousy win him over once again and found himself doing things that ultimately cost him his freedom, and his friends. 

The defeat of the witherstorm… changed things. Just a few days before the gigantic wither was created, Jesse and her friends were total nobodies. Just a bunch of townies that participated in the yearly building competition and lost every single year. They were just that. Nothing more, nothing less. In the span of a month, they went from being a bunch of losers to becoming the most famous monster slayers in the known universe between the overworld and the far lands. 

For a couple of townies who didn’t have any experience with fighting threats even far greater than the infamous ender dragon itself, Jesse and her friends passed the test of becoming the new beloved heroes with flying colors and they suddenly became immersed in a bewildering amount of praise before they even knew it. If you were to stop someone in the town and ask them to tell you about Jesse, the person would have only three words: “Strong. Badass. Phenomenal.” 

Long story short, people practically came to worship Jesse like she was some all powerful deity. 

They were the only people others seemed to care about. What about him? What about the ocelots? The well known group of master builders who won the annual building competition nine times in a row? They also had a part in defeating the monster. A huge part even!  
They risked their lives leaving the safe area of the underground camps, to help Jesse fight the monster by distracting it with firework rockets. What they gained from that? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Jesse never bothered to mention the help she received from him and the ocelots. All that risky work, all that agonizing hardship they went through, was for nothing. All the credit went to Jesse and her team of rookies and they were put aside like they were of no importance, plain and simple. 

That was when Aiden’s life took a turn for worst. He should have minded his own business then. They were the freaking witherstorm defeaters after all. It was the greatest accomplishment in the whole history of humanity that even their so called legendary heroes weren’t capable of achieving. Even what they did wasn't much of a help as Lukas kept reminding him, though he had been too pissed off to listen to whatever his friend had to say. Everything certainly wouldn’t have been handled so wrong had he controlled his meaningless rage and jealousy.

Looking back now, he literally had multiple chances to back off and rethink everything before committing all those unspeakably vile acts. Yet, for reasons unexplained to highest of deities, he chose to go and take over an innocent floating city, pushing the ruler of the city to her death along with two other equally innocent people, just to show his nonexistent power and domination when could have enjoyed his life with his friends by his side instead. The chain of events that happened could have been easily stopped… if only he was a little faster, a little more alerts to snap him back to reality.

On a cold day in early October, only a day after the fall of sky city, he was brought to the newly built town hall clad in rigid handcuffs and he was thrown at Milo and the founder’s feet along with his two other gang mates. The town hall was teeming with all kinds of people, old and young, faces masked with fuming looks. Those angered looks weren’t anything like someone glaring at their kid over a smashed window or something like that. They were more like “I will make your life a living hell and bloody murder you in your sleep” kind of an angry look. If only his problems were as simple as getting in trouble for a smashed window. 

“Twenty years of prison. Could have been better, could have been worse.” Aiden mused quietly, straightening the disheveled bedsheets. He wondered how long would it take the grimy mattress to transmit notch knows what kind of deadly disease to him. From the looks of it, the sheets had never seen the face of laundry once in their lives. 

After being done with making his bed and washing his face from the nearby water bucket, Aiden pulled out a deliciously fresh apple from his inventory. A smirk crawled its way to his lips as he held the ruby red fruit in his both hands. Aiden took a deep whiff from the apple and his stomach clenched with hunger at the sweet, savory aroma. 

It cost him an arm and leg in order to get it without the guards’ notice fully aware that what outcome it would have had for him, had they found out about his little “theft”. It could have been added to his long list of crimes and consequently, a few more years of imprisonment. Then again, have someone been fed extremely revolting food all day every day, they would be much willing to take all the risk for the sake of finding something decent to eat.

Wet and crisp as he bit to the small fruit, it broke between his teeth with a soft crunch. Lingering sound drifted around his ears, filling his heart with pleasure. Icy sweetness filled his mouth and for a moment he closed his eyes, allowing himself to completely savor the refreshing sweet flavor. He kept on chewing; biting until it was all gone, leaving him with nothing to satisfy his hunger for the rest of the morning.

Before Aiden could get a chance to voice his disappointment, the door burst open and a bearded man adorned in the sky city’s military uniform walked inside his cell, carrying a wooden pickaxe along with a shovel. 

As long as he could remember in these past two months, Greg the prison guard had been the only one who visited him in his prison cell. Three times a day. Never to help, never to be a source of comfort. All he received from the older bitter man was stale prison food and the same old harsh venomous words about the same old things. Of course he wouldn’t expect much from him.  
He had destroyed his hometown of all places after all.

“You will be mining for coals today.” He stated coldly, shoving the mining tools to his chest. “I’ll keep an eye on your every single move there. Just one slip up, one more screw up and I won’t hesitate to feed you to the drowned zombies at the bottom of the sea.” He jabbed a threatening finger in the younger man’s chest. “So remember to behave.”

Aiden stiffened at the mention of the drowned creatures. If there was something far worse than zombies raiding the houses in the odd hours of the night, were the aquatic monsters emerging from underwater to impale the innocent passerbys with their three bladed weapons. Being trapped with these creatures for the rest of your life was a fate even worse than death. 

Greg pushed him out of his cell, nearly making him trip on his own feet. Aiden secretly shot him a dirty look. Various swear words, laced with irritation bounced around his mind as the warden guided him through the prison’s main hallway. Since his back was facing him, he took the opportunity and angrily whispered an inaudible curse to let off a bit of steam. 

“Go to hell.”  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Just a few months before the whole sky city fiasco, if someone had told him he will be working in coal mines for a living in the near future, he would have punched them in the face.

Aiden had never been big on working in the mines. Hell, he used to come up with all sort of excuses to bail out on the hard labor back in the glory days. “I only slept for like two hours last night, my hands still hurt from punching trees, I have a date with this girl I met at endercon and…” were the ones he used to come up with all the time. Soon, those poor excuses turned into a daytime ritual and he would leave Lukas, Maya and Gill to do the hard work while he lazed around back at their home, doing absolutely nothing to help his friends. The non-stop arguments he used to have with Lukas over that matter.

And now here he was. Paying for all that slacking all those years ago by working himself to death in these coal mines.

Karma was really a bitch. 

Glaring at the last block containing little pieces of black minerals, he swung the head of the pickaxe down for the last time, breaking the remaining block into two coals. He collected the small coals from the ground and placed the newly formed minerals inside the empty mine cart.

“Okay, I’m done with this part.” He announced to the guard rubbing his sore tired arms with a frown. They were killing him. He needed to give those poor arms a rest as soon as possible. “Can I take some rest now? Even two minutes would suffice.”

Greg was standing a few inches behind him, scribbling down something on a piece of paper. It probably had something to do with calculating the amount of the mined coals. He cast the young criminal an unimpressed glance before returning his attention to his paper.  
“No you can’t.” The middle aged warden then flicked his quill between the brunet and the stone wall located four blocks ahead of him. “That part still needs mining. Now get back to work.”

A surprise expression etches itself onto his exhausted face. “Are you serious?!” At his lack of response, his frown deepened. “I just finished mining literally the half of the damned mine! I deserve to at least take some rest for working my ass off.”

The edge of Greg’s mouth quirked upwards to form a sneer as he looked up from his paper works to face frustrated prisoner. “Now that you mentioned it that gave me an idea.”

“What kind of an idea?” Aiden demanded.

“We actually need someone to scrub the filth and grime off of the public toilets. If you can’t handle a few block mining, you are more than welcome to go for the other option instead.” The guard finished with a smirk. His tone conveyed sweetness. The kind of sweetness that made Aiden sick to his stomach and want to snap that stupid smug off his face. But anyone who knew better would have no choice but to let that slide. Which of them would people side with? The captain of the guard’s second in command or the prisoner guilty of destroying an entire city? Answer would be pretty much obvious. 

Aiden messaged his temples and without saying another word, he went back to resume the task given to him. So much for asking nicely.

He locked horns with Greg so much over the taunts and insults hurled back and forth between the two of them, and the more Aiden thought of it, the more he realized why that was the case. Greg basically was an older version of his own father all wrapped up in a dark skinned, bearded military uniform-wearing package complete with gold shiny medals. His booming voice, the no none sense attitude, the gruff snappy tone were all oddly similar to his old man. He used to scold and berate him for notch knows how many times over so many stupid things. 

But the difference between now and then was that the arguments were mostly about the times his dad caught him slacking off and doing other stuff instead of cleaning up his shop, which was obviously something a little kid couldn’t do on his own. His father would shout and scream various obscene phrases at him over the untouched cluttered nick-nacks on the floor. A couple of his favorites included “Clean that shit up Aiden, or you’ll land me in the nuthouse!” and “Aiden. Mercer. If you don’t clean up this place, or I catch you again waltzing around in the town with that blonde friend of yours, I swear I’ll make you sleep at the door step tonight.”

He started messaging his shoulder, hoping it could somehow help ease the throbbing pain in his muscles. He then straightened his posture and raised the wooden tool over his head to land it on the coal block beneath his feet. Before he could go any further, his gaze instantly fell on two certain people mining a few blocks away from where he was working. Aiden suddenly stopped dead in his tracks as he recognized the faces he never thought he would see ever again. 

It had been two months since he last saw his friends Gill and Maya. Only two months and yet, it felt like it an eternity. He had been kept in dark about the overall condition of his friends. He wasn’t allowed to talk to them, wasn’t allowed to talk about them and was not given the permission to visit them in their prison cells. Ever since they were brought to jail after their trial, Reginald separated the three of them by putting them in three different cells in totally different locations in order to prevent any escape plots they could potentially come up with. 

It used to irritate him to no ends initially. Only a moron with half of a brain cell would think of committing the same stupid mistake after undergoing too much shit in such a brief time. They made that one mistake and learned from it in the hardest way imaginable. Wasn’t that enough? Wasn’t apologizing to Jesse in front of dozens of people enough either? Apparently it wasn’t. 

Of course, no one would believe their words. They wouldn’t give a crap about his outlandish nonsense and anything that would come out of the mouth of a lowlife thug. They had much bigger things to worry about, like their whole new developing town on a brand new, untouched land and the possible ways to prevent the monsters’ attacks.

For all he knew, they wouldn’t care.

It took some moments before Gill’s pitch black eyes met Aiden’s olive green eyes. The brunet watched as Gill nudged the short haired woman on his left, mining for iron blocks. Soon, the former leader of the blaze rods found himself face to face with the friends he been separated from so long ago.

Aiden’s whole face dulled and lit up at the same time. The words “I can’t believe it’s really you guys! You have no idea how much I missed you dorks” are jumping at the bottom of his throat, willing to be set free. But he swallowed them. Was that really what they wanted to hear from him after all this time? That he had been itching to see them again after being thrown in a dark, stinky cell because of his stupid mistakes? Of course not. Not by a long shot. 

He instantly broke eye contact with them and let his gaze travel to the floor beneath his feet as the cruel sensation known as guilt flooded him again. How could he possibly look them in the face and pretend that everything was fine when it clearly wasn’t? Who in their right minds would do that? What kind of a friend was he? The lying, greedy, double-crossing worst excuse for a friend of course.

Aiden wanted to turn around and run away from them to some place, so far away so he didn’t have to face his mistakes again. Like an uninhabited snow biome or a deserted jungle. But even if he managed to hide himself somewhere in a place like the end and severed all of his connections with the outside world, the guilt would never leave him alone. No matter what he did and what he said to himself, it would remain in his heart and soul, constantly and harshly reminding him of his past deeds. And now the cruel sensation, in the shape and form of his only friends, had become present once again. 

Maya and Gill didn’t deserve this. They didn’t deserve to be overworked to the point of passing out late in the chilly nights in their bitter cold prison cells. They shouldn’t have been dragged into this mess. They could have been home right now. Happy and comfortable around a campfire, sharing freshly baked cookies together made by Lukas, without worrying about being mistreated by a bunch of total strangers. They didn’t deserve any of this.

He had to go and ruin their lives like that. Their future was mercilessly taken away from them by his irrational greed and rage, and worst part was that they won’t be able to go back home anymore. The story of their wrong doings will be exchanged across the whole world and their names will be tainted as dangerous criminals for the rest of their lives. 

All because of him. All because of his idiocy. 

He felt their gaze still lingering at him. He didn’t dare to make eye contact with any of them. He couldn’t stand to see them eyeing him with the same scornful look as the other people did. That would shatter his already broken heart into million pieces.

“Psst, Aiden.” He suddenly heard someone calling him. And for once, it wasn’t something like “punk, psychopath” or any other cruel nick name everyone tended to give him on a daily basis. The hushed voice was actually calling him by his own given name. Aiden’s face hardened in confusion but then instantly shook his head. He was probably hallucinating. Yeah, that was probably the case. Otherwise, why the hell would someone want to speak to him after- 

“Hey Aiden!” the same voice interrupted him again. Just to prove himself he was only hearing things and no one was interested in talking to him, he turned his head to the source of the voice. Whatever he was expecting, it certainly wasn’t his friends being the source of voice he was trying to ignore.

Aiden watched in disbelief as Gill and Maya waved at him, faces showing off enthusiastic toothy grins. He felt like the whole world stopped around him. Maybe even planets stopped rotating. Were they seriously happy to see him again? He doubted it. There could be so many possibilities that why they were acting this way. Were they trying to guilt trip him? Perhaps. Were they pitying him? It wasn’t unlikely. Or maybe they were putting on a mask of false eagerness to hide the true nature of their feelings regarding their former leader. However, the noticeable sparkle in their eyes said otherwise.

They were actually happy to see him again. Those idiots were missing him like he did and in all honesty, he didn’t know how to feel about it. Whether to be overjoyed or to deal with the new wave of guilt rushing to his already heavy heart. He already suffered one flood of guilt daily for pushing Lukas to his death and this certainly won’t help him to hate himself a little less than before.

But in the end, it could help him to be at peace with himself for a short time. Even though it wouldn’t completely take off the crushing burden on his shoulders, he knew for sure that he still had the people who would never leave him no matter the circumstances. He knew there were people who didn’t hate his guts. At least entirely.

Unfortunately, Gill and Maya’s attempt at finally having a conversation with their old friend after all this time was defeated when the guards showed up and ended their short lived communication. Aiden helplessly watched as the former blaze rods were shooed away from the sight and all he could do, was to stand there like an idiot and let them take away the only people who could make him happy in his wretched life right now. 

They were doing anything to make him even more miserable, weren’t they? They were stripping him out of every single thing that gave him happiness until he was nothing but an empty shell of his past self. And now, he will be left alone to suffer the ever familiar pain of loneliness. He kept watching Gill and Maya until they became tiny black dots in the distance. That was when Aiden let himself get lost in the abyss of his own grief and sadness.

“Bye guys. I will see you two again. I hope.” He wasn’t sure who he was talking to. To his now absent friends or the universe that was determined to prove him wrong. Presumably both.

He could only hope and cross his fingers for another chance to see his friends again. The only reminders from the ocelots and the once happy times they had shared together. Maybe next time if he was lucky enough, he could talk to Reginald and he would agree to let him pay his friends a visit. And when that happens, he wouldn’t hesitate to apologize to them for… well, literally everything. For turning them against Lukas, for making them do all sorts of life risking dirty jobs while he didn’t bother to do any of them himself. And finally, for dooming their fate to work like slaves possibly for a lifetime in a world they knew nothing about.

If he ever magically ended up getting out of this misery, which was highly unlikely at this rate, he would gladly do whatever it takes to make it up them. Not just to Gill and Maya but also to Jesse and Lukas, and basically whoever he had wronged in his whole life. That would make a list as long as your arm if he wanted to name them all. Jesse and her friends, the sky city citizens along with the Founder, his own friends, including his best friend he practically tried to kill, and many, many more people.

But the harsh bitter reality surely wouldn’t spare him any chances to redeem himself. Why? Because he simply didn’t deserve it. He was indebted to this people and had to pay his debt to them, even if it costs his youth and freedom. He nearly murdered them and left them homeless above all else. 

“I’m not gonna see them anymore. That’s for sure.” His bright green eyes brimmed heavy with tears; his hands clenched into fists and his shoulders heaved with emotion. “That’s probably for the best. They are better off without me and my troubles anyway.”   
He lowered his gaze to the stone floor beneath his feet. “I never got the chance to apologize for being an ass to you guys. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

Aiden had become too lost in his dwellings to notice he had been neglecting his duties and the fact that it wouldn’t go unnoticed by the people monitoring his every single move at the moment. He also failed at sensing someone’s presence behind him as he stood in his place contemplating about the what ifs in his life. 

Of course, any second of slacking came with multiple consequences. Before Aiden knew it, someone violently pushed him from behind and he landed face first on the ground with a loud thud. Lucky for him, he missed the mine cart on his left by a few inches, otherwise he would have sustained serious head trauma from the possible impact.

Dazed and irritated, he whirled on his back, face twisted and ready to attack whoever dared to rudely snap him out of his thoughts. Much to his chagrin, his gaze was instantly met with the last person he wanted to talk and deal with at that moment.

’’The bastard of a guard again.”

Rubbing his now bleeding nose, Aiden lost his patience and lashed out at the man responsible for his sudden fall. “What the hell was that for?! You almost cracked open my skull, are you trying to kill me?!” At this point, he was restraining himself from pouncing on him and decorating his face with never ending bruises and he wouldn’t bloody care if the guy happened to be the captain’s second in command or whatever. This guy could have seriously injured him and he wouldn’t let him get away with it so easily.

Aiden was still in the middle of processing his earlier assault and coming up with multiple ways to beat the crap out of his attacker when he instantly felt an unbelievably heavy pressure on his chest, roughly pinning him down on the ground. His light green pupils shrank in shock when he saw the sudden pain and pressure inflicted on him was duo to Greg pressing his right foot on his torso. Out of all sorts of nasty remarks and other possible ways for the older man to berate him for his inconvenience, this was the furthest thing that came to his mind among those options.

He knew Greg was neither a compassionate person, nor an understanding one. He never smiled, never treated him like a normal person and not a loathed unwanted criminal, and would call him names whenever he got the chance, which was a regular occurrence. He was pretty much used to his verbally abusive tendencies at this rate, but physical abuse was something he hadn’t seen from the man since the time he was jailed. Never saw it happen and he was damn sure that a well-respected man like him would never take a step too far to land himself in trouble with the founder for laying a finger on someone like him. And now that it has happened, Aiden was starting to question every single thing he had known until that moment. 

Or more exactly, he was starting to question the extent of the man's cruelty.

Greg pushed his foot more than before. “Slack off just one more time, you will live to regret it. Did you hear me?”   
Squinting his eyes close, Aiden hissed through his gritted teeth as a sharp harrowing pain shot up his rib cage, shuddering all the way through his body. His torso was screaming in pure agony, silently begging the furious man to release the unbearable pressure from him, but to no avail, the pain didn’t go away. Instead, Greg gave another push to his aching chest and shot him a death glare. “I asked you a simple question, are you deaf or something?!” 

Aiden bit his lip and tried to detach his weight from his body. He didn’t want to anger Greg any more than he currently was. From the crystal clear evidence in his newfound behavior, the idea of him losing his mind out of blue and suddenly murdering him right on the spot didn’t seem so far-fetched anymore. He needed to act fast before his rib cage gets completely crushed under his surprisingly strong foot. 

Letting out a pained groan, Aiden opened his eyes and with a look full of plea and helplessness, he made eye contact with his tormentor.   
“Please stop it... You’re hurting me...” He pleaded, not giving a single damn if he looked like a pathetic fool in front of the guard. He just wanted to get this psychopath leave him alone or else he would end up with an injury even worse than a head injury.

Greg then decided that a lowlife prisoner wasn’t worth wasting his precious time on, so he backed off and his weight was removed from his chest. Aiden fell on his back, hands clutching the throbbing area in his chest. He had never felt so relieved in his life. Enduring a chest crushing pain like that definitely wasn’t something he wanted to go through again. 

Aiden sat up horror-struck and cautiously eyed the man who spontaneously assaulted him a few moments ago. A burst of fear and panic rushed to his blood stream and he found himself cowering under the man’s glowering gaze. His lethal stare felt painful and piercing, as if his glare was tearing his heart apart with a dagger. 

It was clearly evident he didn’t felt the slightest bit of remorse for suffocating him to death with his abnormally heavy weight. No sympathy, no regret, no nothing. Just the sheer utter hatred dripping from his jet black eyes. 

“You good for nothing punk.” Aiden heard him spat. He thought about how someone’s voice could manage to send shivers down his spine this easily.

Hands shaking with fear, Aiden reached out to his pickaxe and let his trembling fingers wrap around the wooden handle. Using every bit of strength left in his somehow lifeless body, he managed to stand up on his feet. He could feel his legs caving underneath him, and he regained his balance before he would crumble to the floor in an embarrassing manner. 

He locked gaze with his attacker one more time. Just like before, his eyes were flashing with indignation and anger, much like lightning on a pitch black night. He faltered and staggered backwards. All of his emotions were coming out fast, an unstoppable torrent of pent up pain, fear and other unpleasant feelings. He hadn’t felt like this since that fateful night he surrendered himself to Jesse when he was left unarmed after an unsuccessful duel and he had no choice but to beg her to spare his life. 

As he stood up, he brought his hand to his chest and started rubbing the aching spot gently. Aiden bit his lip as his hand came in contact with the injured area. He closed his eyes and winced in pain. It was definitely going to bruise, a nasty one too. He had to be more careful from now on he decided. From what he had witnessed from the change in the prison guard’s behavior patterns, Greg wouldn’t hesitate to beat him up again if he found another excuse to do so. Lame stupid excuses undoubtedly weren’t out of question at this point. 

In all honesty, it was terrifying. He wasn’t sure to what extent he wanted to go with his no- so mild punishments from now on, but something told him that for sure, the middle aged warden would go much, much further than nearly crushing his chest under his foot.   
But then a thought dawned on him. Isa and Milo probably knew Greg well enough to leave him, of all people, in the charge of guarding his jail cell to keep a close eye on him when they could have just let Reginald do the job instead. Maybe that was a part of his punishment; to be left at the mercy of the cruelest man alive in this town.

That was when his world came crashing down.

**Author's Note:**

> The second chapter will be up soon. Please leave a comment or a kudos and let me know what you think of the story so far. Have a great day/night!


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